CARBON FARMING
Action on the Ground
The Fruit Salad Project:
Soil amendments in fertigated melons,
blueberries and banana production.
The Fruit Salad Project
Staff on the Project
Project Manager: Dr Justine Cox (NSW DPI)
Project technical officer: Mick Davey (NSW DPI)
Project officer: Sue Heisswolf (Daff Qld)
Project officer: Stephen Ginns (Daff Qld)
The Fruit Salad Project
Nitrous Oxide Emissions & Carbon Sequestration in
Soil.
5 replicated field trials
Bundaberg - Rockmelons
Griffith – Rockmelons
Lismore – Blueberries
Coffs Harbour - Bananas
Alstonville - Bananas
The Fruit Salad Project
Rates Applied
Equivalent to 4 tonnes carbon per hectare
Poultry Manure Biochar at 10 tonnes per hectare
Compost at 20 tonnes per Hectare
Combination treatment: 5 tonnes of Biochar per Hectare
and compost 10 tonnes per Hectare
The Fruit Salad Project
Bundaberg Rates Applied
T 1. Control – standard fertiliser
T 2. Biochar – 15kg biochar/plot + standard fert
T 3. Compost – 30kg compost/plot + standard fert
T 4. Biochar + Compost – 7.5kg biochar + 15kg compost /plot +
standard fert
The Fruit Salad Project
Experimental Design
Treatments
T 1. Control = standard fertiliser
T 2. Biochar = biochar + standard fertiliser
T 3. Compost = compost + standard fertiliser
T 4. Biochar + Compost = biochar + compost + standard fertiliser
The Fruit Salad Project
Bundaberg Trial Layout
Blocks are 9 rows wide
Data rows are: 2, 4, 6, 8
Buffer rows: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
Grower has used GPS auto steer to layout the blocks and beds
4 treatments – Compost, biochar, compost and biochar and a control
4 reps – 20m bed per rep
Plots = 20m long * 1.6m wide
Beds = 20m long * 0.75 wide
The Fruit Salad Project
Bundaberg Crop Program
Spring 2014 - July to Nov 2014. 1st crop - Rockmelons
Summer 2014 - Dec 2014 to March 2015 - Fallow
Winter 2015 - April 2015 to July 2015. 2nd crop - Zucchinis
Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter 2015 - September 2015 to end
2016. 3rd crop – Sugarcane
The Fruit Salad Project
N2O Fruit Salad Chamber Layout.
12
1
3
1
1
36
1
4
10
37
3
5
3
8
34
39
33
40
1
5
9
1
6
8
1
7
7
4
1
3
2
31
42
30
43
1
8
6
1
9
5
2
0
4
2
9
4
4
28
45
27
46
2
1
3
2
2
2
2
3
1
2
6
25
2
4
4
7
48
The Fruit Salad Project
N2O Sampling
1. 6-7-8th August pre-plant sample
2. 19-20th August post rainfall event (54mm)
3. 9-10-11th September
4. 22-23-24-25-26th Sept to cover two irrigation events
5. 15-16-17th October
The Fruit Salad Project
Gas Sampling Schedule
Sampl
e No.
1
2
Timing
Melons
pre
plant
At
runnin
g
Date
early
Aug
2014
Early
Sept
3
4
First
flowers/
early fruit
set
Late Sept
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13-16
Fruit
fill
Fallow
Signific
ant rain
events
Zucchi
ni pre
plant
First flowers
& fruit set
Mid/
late
harvest
Fallow
Cane
rotation
Mid
Oct
Early
Dec
Feb March
2015
Mid
Apr
Early June
JuneJuly
Aug to
end 2016
The Fruit Salad Project
Rockmelon Sampling
1. 7th November
2. 13th November)
The Fruit Salad Project
Data collected include
a) Yields (weights)
b) Size of melons (length and width)
c) Brix (sweetness)
d) Marketing Quality
e) Acidity through titration.
The Fruit Salad Project
Project Partners.
a) Australian Banana Growers Council
b) Australian Melon Association
c) Australian Blueberry Growers Association
d) Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries,
Queensland
e) Southern Cross University.
f ) NSW Department of Primary Industries.
The Fruit Salad Project
We would like to thank Brent, Julie
and Tony Attard of ‘Swan Ridge Farms’ at
Bundaberg.